There were great challenges initially in both of those communities and in the CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) community. We struggled with that for quite a while because obviously, to reach out to those communities required a different way of doing business.
What we found as we progressed was … that mass vaccination hubs were not as good for those groups. So for example, up in the Duda and Walgett in areas like that, Wilcannia and so on, we had to actually get our health workers, our Aboriginal health workers in that case, to actually go and knock on doors. And what they were telling me was that in some cases, it was multiple visits back to the house. It was about building confidence. It was an area that we did both in regard to the Aboriginal community and also people with disabilities, both of those areas were of course theoretically going to be done by the Federal Government, but was their target, that was what they said they would do.
As matters progressed, New SouthWales made the decision that we would actually do what we needed todo, our citizens, and not just sit back and wait the Federal Government to do it. I think it remains a real issue of Aboriginal communities broadly across Australia, because talking to other health ministers around the country, they are still really concerned…
Can I say, you have talked about the Aboriginal community, Aboriginal communities are also like every other community. They differ. So it depends what part of the state you are in, it depends what the community leaders are saying, but unfortunately, the one common theme that I can say exists right across Australia’s social media. The absolutely appalling messages that are going through social media, and trying to convince those who are more vulnerable not to have vaccinations…